The Jeweler's Tale
continued
I was trying a technique that Netherton had taught us about using two mirrors to bring sunlight into a shaded area. The boy came back again and repeated 'But, mister, mister, there is an alligator coming up behind you.' Again I said, 'Yeah, okay." But the boy wouldn't leave. I looked around and here came an alligator about as big as I was - right straight at me. He didn't seem in a hurry, but I grabbed the camera and left."
Thompson's favorite subjects are birds.
"I probably get more relaxation shooting birds. You have to learn the bird's particular habits and what is special about him. It takes a lot of time. You just don't walk out there and take a picture of a bird. Well, you can, but it would look like you just walked out there and took a picture of it. You want the picture to tell something about the character of the bird."
Thompson is constantly striving to enlarge his photographic techniques in order to tell those stories. To that end, several years ago Thompson joined the Tullahoma Camera Club, which meets once a month at the D.W. Wilson Recreation Center. He has even served as its president.
"I like competition, trying to reach the next level," says Thompson. "If you don't have anythihg to compare to, you don't have any way to set a goal. The camera club is a super way for people to get started in photography. It can keep you from making a lot of mistakes in buying equipment. You can ask members about tripods or a particular lens, and and everybody I know at the club would give a straight honest answer.
"They are also good at pointing out ways to possibly improve your images. It's surprising how many times you can take what you consider to be a good slide and project it and somebody will point out something you didn't see that detracts from the picture. Sometimes when you look at a photograph you think of the experience, the feeling you had at the moment the image was made, you never see the piece of trash in the foreground. You show the picture at the camera club and someone will ask, 'Why didn't you move that beer can lying in the foreground?'"
As serious as Thompson is about his photography, he would never go commercial. Still, he likes people to admire his work. So Thompson attends art shows with his wife, Pat.
"It's a lot of fun for me. Because I sit here at work all day, I don't even have a window. When I do an art show, I'm out in the open under a canopy, meeting people.
"I enjoy selling my work," says Thompson. "It's a wonderful compliment to take a picture of a leaf-one that people will step on or rake into a pile and burn-print it in your own darkroom, mount and frame it, put it on display in a booth, and have somebody come up and say 'That's beautiful. I'll give you money for that. I want to take it home with me.' The feeling you get is wonderful."